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Yankees lineup vs. Cubs - Game One: Sizemore in, Jeter and Roberts out again

By Jason Cohen
Elsa

If you only come around for the Masahiro Tanaka and Michael Pineda starts, then today is the day for you. Thanks to terrible weather and snow (?????) on Tuesday, yesterday's game was cancelled and now we get a doubleheader. The lineup for the first game is out:

We have an all-outfield top of the order with Alfonso Soriano and Brian McCann right behind them. Yangervis Solarte sits at sixth and playing second base, followed by Kelly Johnson at first, Dean Anna at short, and the newly brought up Scott Sizemore at third. After hitting .344/.436/.500 in Triple-A over 10 games, the Yankees called up Sizemore and added him to the 40-man roster with Francisco Cervelli going on the 60-day disabled list with a Grade 2 hamstring strain. Hopefully he will take his hot bat with him and offer the Yankees a legitimate option for both second base and third base.

Derek Jeter and Brian Roberts sitting is pretty disconcerting, though not surprising. Neither were likely to play both sides of the doubleheader, but both being out of the day game make it seem like they won't be playing at all. After getting two more days off with Monday's off-day and Tuesday's rainout, I would imagine that Jeter should be ok to play. If he's not in the night game he should be placed on the disabled list.

Roberts likely won't be playing at all today:

This is starting to sound an awful lot like Kevin Youkilis' back problems from last year. Remember that? When he sat for a week, came into one game, re-injured it and then went on the DL? They seemed to have no clue what they were doing then and Brian Cashman seems to have no clue what they're going to do with Roberts now:

We'll see how he responds daily to treatment. Backs are tricky. Could be a couple of days. Could be slower. Could be quicker. ... He may be a player for us as early as tomorrow, or it could be a week. I don't know yet."

If a player is too hurt to play for an extended period of time, you put him on the DL. That's what it's there for. Place him on the 60 and call up someone. It's not like he was playing extremely well where you don't want to miss his bat. The Yankees took a chance with Roberts, but they also have to accept the consequences. Roberts is made of glass, back injuries are serious, if they make the same mistake again this will only end in tears.

The Yankees can't call up a 26th man because they need to have 48 hours in advance. Their roster is so thin that if Jeter and Roberts can't play tonight, the infield will be exactly the same for both games. Expect John Ryan Murphy in for Brian McCann and someone to sit in place of Ichiro Suzuki, but that infield isn't changing.

UPDATE:

Gotta save him for the PM crowd. I expect Sizemore to sit tonight, keeping Johnson, Solarte, and Anna in both games.

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